


Aquarius

by giggling_bubble



Series: Publishing My Appreciation [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Death, Doubt, Emotional, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Giving Up, I hate killing people, Identity Reveal, Mistakes, One-Shot, Regrets, Short, Tension, Undying Love, brokenhearted, fading light, fixing it, it hurt me to write, make it right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 11:03:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11251806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giggling_bubble/pseuds/giggling_bubble
Summary: A fading star, destined to ascend to the heavens, son of a fashion icon.(Prob. favorite one-shot I've written so far.)I'm sorry for the angst, but the ending is a happy one.





	Aquarius

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sodokachi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sodokachi/gifts).



> Sodokachi, I hope you enjoy this. I realize it's heavy. It was heavier than I'd intended, but I do like how it turned out. I'm sorry for all the angst. It hurt me to write it.

Ladybug was running. The skyline of Paris passed by in a shadowy blur and specks of light. Her cheeks were wet with tears that refused to stop.

"No!" she sobbed. Her feet were flying as fast as they could. Marinette had missed the text from Alya and her heart ached. This couldn't be happening. He had to be all right. Ladybug landed in front of the Agreste Estate with a sickening thump as her knees collapsed onto the lawn, in weakness, bringing her tumbling towards the earth. "Mr. Agreste!!!" she screamed.

Her cries seemed to fall on deaf ears seeing as the air was as still as death. Fitting, really, considering. Without a reply, she hurtled herself up to Adrien's bloodied window and threw it open. In her fervor, it shattered into millions of little pieces and fell to the ground beneath her. There, on his bed, he'd collapsed. His breath was coming in ragged pants. There was a wide trail of blood leading in through the window and across the floor to where he now lay.

"No, no, no, no, no," she cried as she stumbled and fell at his feet, "You can't be dying. ADRIEN!" she shouted.

His eyes blinked open. They were dull, the spark was gone. She could see the life draining out of them just as her happiness was drained from her body.

"You can't go," she sobbed, "I haven't had a chance to tell you how much I love you. You don't know how many times I wish I'd have told you and here, now, I finally get to hold you, but this isn't how we were supposed to end. I should go first. You are everything to me and I don't even want to be here without you. These don't mean anything without you." She reached up and took her earrings off which dropped the transformation. Her sobs were wracking through her body, obscuring her vision and speech, until she could only bury her face in his hair and cry. "You don't even KNOW!!" she screamed. "It's too late!"

Suddenly, the door to the bedroom slammed open and Hawk Moth walked into the room. "NOOO!!" he shouted, "It can't be."

"What do you mean?" she seethed, "You murdered him!"

Gabriel appeared where Hawk Moth stood, his transformation falling away, as his face started to match her own. Marinette didn't have the energy to be surprised.

"It wasn't him. He wasn't there. She attacked Chat Noir!" he exclaimed, "Adrien was home."

Marinette glanced over to the window and then down in horror at the blood splattered boy's face. It finally clicked. Adrien was Chat Noir. "You idiot," she whispered, "Don't go, _Chaton_. I swear, if you stay, we'll start over. Please. Don't leave me."

His breathing was slowing and his chest rattled with what could only be an accumulation of blood. A sound she'd never forget as long as she lived.

"Oh, God, no," she leaned down to place a kiss to his forehead. She didn't even care if there was blood. "I love you, Chat. You hear that, Adrien, I love you. Do you hear me? Fight!!!"

She hadn't realized her hand had found his, but she felt him squeeze it. A soft whisper left his lips, "Love you, too, Maribug. Always have." He  _did_ hear her. Then his hand went slack and the rattling of his chest stopped. There was soft gasping coming from Gabriel; unable to move. Marinette's heart had stopped just as suddenly as the boy's in her lap. The air wouldn't come. Instead, she was just empty.

"You should have purified the akuma," Gabriel cried in his misery.

Marinette couldn't even dignify his comment with a reply. She should have, but she wasn't there. They didn't know the akuma was going to go kamikaze and destroy itself in the process. Apparently, neither did Hawk Moth. Her suicide had blown up Chat, while his hand held a cataclysm, which caused it all to permeate his virtually indestructible suit.

Then the sobbing figure next to her, the broken form of Gabriel Agreste, shot up. "There's another akuma. We can fix this."

Marinette's miraculous sat discarded on the floor at Gabriel's feet. He picked the earrings up, and though they were what he'd been trying to acquire for years, it brought him no joy. His desire for them gone. "Please, ladybug."

She looked at the earrings and silent tears rolled down her numb cheeks. The warmth from Adrien's body was the only comfort to her; the last remnants of him in her lifetime and she didn't want to waste a second with him. She couldn't pull herself away.

"Please try."

"There's no use," she sighed, "It won't work."

Gabriel pulled out his cell phone, "Nathalie. I need you in Adrien's room. His bedroom. Yes. Now." His voice was shaking with emotion and panic.

Marinette gazed up at the man, Adrien's father, unable to feel any emotion towards him. He was heartbroken, too. Though it was his fault, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. This wasn't his intention, very obviously, and she was still numb. It hadn't sunk in yet. _Adrien_ was gone. _Chat_ was gone. She felt an endless void inside.

Nathalie appeared at he door. They were alerted of her presence only as she gasped and shrieked. Her feet carried her to Adrien's bed and she cried just as they had. Marinette didn't have any more emotion left in her dazed body. Instead, she watched as Gabriel leaned over her and removed her glasses. Nathalie spun on him and began to punch his chest, "YOU DID THIS GABRIEL!!!" she shrieked, "ALL this to bring her back for Adrien. For Adrien? Look. Look what happened." The venom that spewed from the normally reserved office assistant was vitriolic and fiery; cutting through Gabriel to the quick.

He gulped, and took the lashing, before holding the glasses up, "I need you Ladybug."

"Tikki, spots on," she whispered quietly. A flash of pink light and Marinette was shrouded in her usual red suit.

She looked to Gabriel as he snapped his assistant's glasses in half and a little butterfly fluttered out.

"Oh, my God!" Marinette glanced between the two of them in shock, but stood up instantly to swing her yo-yo and capture the akuma. "No more need for you, little akuma. De-evilise!" She released the little white butterfly and turned to Gabriel; questioning him.

He sighed and shrugged, "I made Nathalie a champion."

"Miraculous Ladybug!!" she threw her yo-yo in the air and thousands of ladybugs flew about the room and the city. What happened was unexpected, though, as there was a bright flash of light.

It had been years since Gabriel had akumatized Nathalie. It was an akuma that had been maintained since then. By the nature of the butterfly miraculous, a special power, was a time reset if an akuma were to last past a certain duration; thirty days. This reset them back to the day the akuma was created.

Marinette and Gabriel were the only two who would remember the events that had taken place after.

Marinette blinked her eyes in the familiarity of her bedroom, sitting on her loft bed with a her tablet computer in her hands. "TIKKI!!" she shrieked as she jumped up, "Tikki, do you think it worked?" If it did she was in her second year once again. She didn't care that she'd have wait to graduate a second time if everything was fixed. This was her second chance and she had to do it right.

"One way to find out, Marinette," Tikki said with a knowing grin.

Marinette didn't even wait. She didn't care how she'd be received. She wasn't wasting another minute.

Ladybug landed with a thump outside of Adrien's window; her heart in her throat. _Knock, knock._

The window cracked open and she was met with most gloriously beautiful view her eyes had ever seen. A disheveled Adrien, presumably awakened from a much needed nap, peeked out in surprise at her. The golden highlights of his hair and lively green sparkle brought tears to her own eyes. Ladybug latched onto his shoulders and jumped into his arms, "Thank God, you're okay."

"L-Ladybug?" he stuttered and stumbled back.

Just then the door to his bedroom was thrown open by one Gabriel Agreste. He promptly fell to his knees and dropped his face into his hands. Adrien glanced to Ladybug and back to his father in bewilderment. Ladybug slid to the floor and gestured to his father.

"I feel like I'm missing something. Pere, are you all right?" he rushed over to his father, who was shaking on the floor.

"Yes," he nodded and reached up to throw his arms around Adrien's neck, "I'm so sorry."

He'd never seen his father cry before.

"He's Hawk Moth," Ladybug whispered.

Adrien's head jerked up to look at her and then back to his father. Gabriel's arms had released Adrien and he nodded, "It's true. I didn't know you were..."

"Chat Noir," Ladybug finished for him; reverence lacing each syllable. God, she loved him.

Adrien's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he glanced from one person to the other. "You...you know?" he said to both of them.

"You died," Ladybug whined and her voice cracked, "Adrien, you died. I never got the chance to tell you I love you, you silly cat."

"You what?" he stood up, but didn't trust his legs as he stumbled to the chair next to him. His hand clasped it for support. "Say that again?" he asked weakly.

"I love you," Ladybug said as she dropped her transformation.

Adrien took in the sight of Marinette standing before him, her hair pulled back into pigtails and her signature pink jeans, and gasped. Her blue eyes were piercing as they gazed into his own; love, adoration, and relief pouring out of them.

"I never got a chance to say it," a tear rolled down her cheek, "It was almost too late. Your father, he discovered a way to bring you back...to _me_. Don't ever leave me again, Chaton. Please."

Adrien leaned forward to grasp her face in his hands, gently cupping her cheeks, as he let his soft lips alight on her own; easing her fears and soothing the hurt as only he knew how. Marinette sobbed with relief before returning the kiss. She didn't care that his father was watching as the passion she had held onto for so long slipped out of her and into him. Her fingers found his neck and slid upwards into his hair. He shivered.

"I'm not going anywhere, bug," he smiled against her lips, "I love you, too. Always have."

Gabriel cleared his throat, "I'll, uh, have the cook prepare something and have it sent up." They heard the door click behind him.

Marinette and Adrien didn't leave his room for two days. They had no intention of leaving the other again. They planned to be side by side til the end of time. Hopefully, it was a long, _long_ time.


End file.
